Tuesday, 21 February 2017

At one time this will have been a canal-side warehouse, strategically squeezed up adjacent to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Bales of Yorkshire wool will have swung from those loading bays in progress between sheep and suit. Now they are offices within which words are woven into voluminous reports.

Monday, 20 February 2017

The new extension to Huddersfield University for all the world looks like the rear end of a mighty cruise ship: one of those maritime monsters with half a million passengers and countless crew. Somehow the ship found its way up the Huddersfield Broad Canal and then got stuck as it attempted the first set of locks on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Friday, 17 February 2017

Church Steps in Rochdale date back to the seventeenth century (some would say to the 12th century). For hundreds of years people have been walking between the banks of the River Roch and the hill upon which the church is built. Walking up and down, jogging up and down.

Thursday, 16 February 2017

There are not many places in the north where you can look at two adjacent Grade 1 listed buildings, but you can in Rochdale. In the foreground of this photograph is the Cenotaph, built in 1922 to a design of Sir Edwin Lutyens. And posing next to it is the 1871 Town Hall designed by the architect Alfred Waterhouse. Two delightful buildings share the winter sun of Rochdale.

Monday, 13 February 2017

There is a certain spot in Rochdale - somewhere around the point at which Newgate would cross St Mary's Gate (if it wasn't for the dual carriageway in between), that you can look one way and see concretopolis ...... (to be continued)

Saturday, 11 February 2017

This church is just over one hundred years old and was designed by the architect Sir Ninian Comper. The name comes from the fact that the previous chapel was built in a field where the wild herb, melissa officinalis (lemon balm), was growing. "Baum" is a local dialect form of the word "balm".

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

There seems to be a growing interest in ghost signs: the internet is full of blogs and sites dedicated to the faded and forgotten signs painted onto sides of buildings. The search for such signs is the kind of passion that is sufficiently eccentric to appeal to people who have nothing better to do - people just like myself. Here is my first contribution to what I hope will be a growing portfolio. The building is on the junction of Yorkshire Street and Penn Street in Rochdale and I am not sure who G L Adamson was. The chances are that, whoever he was, he didn't buy gold.

Monday, 6 February 2017

Rochdale has so many of the makings of a lovely town. It has a town hall that many a substantial city would curl up and die for, it has a rich social history (it is the birthplace of the co-operative movement), and it has a sprinkling of fine old buildings. But it also has dual carriageways that carve their way through the town, and car parks that seem to spread for miles. That is the town hall in the background. That is the car park in the foreground.

Thursday, 2 February 2017

This is the National Spiritual Church on the corner of Eastwood Street and Martin Street in Brighouse. The carving above the fine circular window suggests that the building used to be a Mission Hall and I was intrigued to discover a little of its history. Surely there would be some missionary spirits still lurking in the stonework that could enlighten me? Sadly, there were not - but a quick search through the historical record revealed that it was built in 1883 as an "undenominational evangelical organisation" dedicated to bringing the promise of redemption to the working folk of Brighouse. When it started, it had a membership of just five local benefactors, but by the end of the century it was attracting significant crowds and hosting "large meetings at which anthems and hymns were sung to the accompaniment of a string and reed band from Siddal"

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

There can be few finer sights than the way the sun reflects off Yorkshire stone. It is not like the sun bouncing back off a slab of Italian marble with an air of casual indifference, nor is it akin to the way that red brick causes the sun to slip-slide away. Yorkshire stone absorbs the sun, gives it a cup of tea and a slab of parkin and then sends it on its way again, refreshed and revived.

About Me

One time lecturer, writer on European Affairs and bus conductor, Alan Burnett now divides his time between walking the dog and a little harmless blogging. His News From Nowhere Blog has been running since 2006 and acts as a showcase for his ranting and writing and his photographs old and new.